


April Fools

by thatchicken_cf (Rainbow_star_tea)



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Best Friends, College, Drinking Games, Friends to Lovers, M/M, Never Have I Ever, Truth or Dare
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-15
Updated: 2019-01-15
Packaged: 2019-10-10 15:37:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,396
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17428703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Rainbow_star_tea/pseuds/thatchicken_cf
Summary: When Satan, (in the form on the man with a number for a name) invites you to play truth or dare, you can't say no, but boy you should've.(Especially when feelings for your best friend fester in the most painful ways possible, but then again, sometimes the devil plays advocate.)





	April Fools

**Author's Note:**

> Hey yall's HaVE yOU sEeN WaY V I THiNk i MiGHt CoMbUst!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so excited - too excited, anways to the story - you know how people always warn hey the summary is better than the story , i feel like i must warn you of the oppisite here lol, hopefully it isnt dreadful!!! Hope you enjoy!

“Come on Yuta! I can kick better than that!” Sicheng called across the mostly desolate soccer field before immediately turning back to his phone, curling himself into the screen, deliberately ignoring the loud yell from across the field.

 

“Yah! Dong Sicheng!” Yuta called, loud enough for the sky to hear. Sicheng rolled his eyes, but the smallest of smiles pricked at his cheeks as he turned his gaze to the other. It’s alright, he couldn’t see the smile from here. Yuta had a soccer ball tucked under one arm, fringe slick to his forehead, and he was looking up very disapprovingly.

 

“What?” Sicheng mouthed, pretending he wouldn’t be able to yell loud enough for the other to hear, allowing a scowl to maul his features to cover the growing smile.

 

Yuta stood in his position for a few seconds; legs shoulder width apart, wearing his usual sport shorts and that soccer jersey he had three or more versions of. Sicheng knew he had at least three: two or more were in his own apartment. Yuta stayed there before what could only be described as the epitome of an evil grin spread across his handsome features. The confident pose turned to a confident stride as he quickly narrowed the space between them, his features; the slight up-curl of his lip, the prominent eye bags, the painted finger nails came into focus the further and further he came. Soon the blending of black coal fires into evening smothered in smoke that swirled in Yuta’s eyes was more than visible, the sudden proximity starting Sicheng into yields of pain.

 

Fuck. 

 

He kept his scowl mauled onto his face trying to not show how desperate he was to lean over the barrier between the bleachers and where Yuta was standing. And sure, he could do that, he could lean over them, face to face with the other, look down at him with his few centimeters of extra height and quirk an eyebrow at him in question. But he wouldn’t. For his own sake.

 

Mother Ten once said don’t fall for the boys who won’t love you back.

 

But when on earth had Sicheng ever listened to Ten?

 

“What do you want, Yuta?” Sicheng asked, keeping the semi pout, semi scowl to mask the silent panic firing up in his eyes.

 

“I just want to know, why you were yelling at me, in the middle of my practice,” he said playfully, leaning down along the railing to stare face to face at Sicheng. Sicheng turned away, pretending to be annoyed at the accusation. “Last I checked you are only here so I can then watch you practice for an hour as well, so unless you want me screaming over the music…”

 

“I don’t remember yelling, but if I did, I’m sure if you did start yelling in the middle of my practice, I would have no problem in showing how well I kick,”

 

The proceeding laughter that burst out of the other boy’s mouth was just about the best thing Sicheng had heard all week. And Sicheng had heard Ten hit his hip on the coffee table just yesterday.

 

“So, do you want to go now? If you start early, we can go to Kun’s earlier too,”

 

“I thought you said you were in the middle of practice,” Sicheng commented, although once Yuta had decided on something, it would be tough luck trying to change it.

 

 “I was exaggerating. Now come on, lets see your routine.” He ducked under the railing as Sicheng stood up, then chose to proceed to hug Sicheng tightly, wrapping his arms firmly over Sicheng’s, making him scrunch up his nose at the scent of grass and sweat, turning around to face away from the other, taking to fiddle with his phone to conceal the grin that was still fighting to break through.

 

|

 

Sicheng took another deep breath before elapsing into an elaborate curl, focusing on tensing all the right muscles, just enough to pull him through for a nice, clean finish. The resulting gasp that filled his tense airways brought a compound of relief, air flooding him like a tidal wave. He had finished his routine so Sicheng could concentrate on Yuta, who had been sitting quietly in the corner the entire time; too invested in getting it perfect rather than checking up on the other. Sicheng really enjoyed using a darkened practice room, it allowed time for quiet and sole concentration on the music now thrumming through his veins. It’s one downside? Not being able to properly see if Yuta was watching. Was he on his phone? Was he watching Sicheng as intently as he would’ve liked? Was he impressed or amused? He took the opportunity to glance into the mirror, searching for the others reflected irises, dull in the grey; two dark rings searching or hiding from their counterparts. Instead Sicheng found Yuta’s eyes intently glazing over him, as though covering him in a shine of sugar, rather than sweat. That sweet glow pooling in little bubbles as he smiled up at Sicheng as though he had seen the sun.

 

“Wow, that was amazing, beautiful, Sicheng,” Yuta cooed, pride oozing from his very being, snowflake sweetness glinting off a refreshing smile.

 

“Thank you,” Sicheng replied strongly, pulling himself up to a standing position. “I hope to extend the ending, since I feel it’s a bit weak to end just lying there out of breath.”

 

“I’m sure Ten would be very disappointed,” Yuta laughed heartily, handing up a drink bottle to Sicheng as he walked over. Sicheng nodded in thanks before plopping down in front of him. There were a few moments of silence as Sicheng gasped down some water, keeping his eyes from examining the other boys’ features. “Although,” Yuta started, scaring away the delicate silence, “no one would be the least bit disheartened or disappointed by your performance honestly, it was intrinsically fascinating,”

 

Sicheng felt that disgruntled warmth spread over him at the others words, the accompanying steady gaze only forcing him to stiffen up. _Don’t fall into the trap. Don’t hurt yourself like this_. “Wow fancy language you’re using there,” Sicheng huffed turning away in his best attempts to conceal the thickness that clogged up his threat as he swallowed. He turned back to the other boy, who still had that crazily pretty smile on his face. Though if Sicheng hadn’t known him, he wouldn’t have noticed the bitterness that tainted the sugar sweet eye smile from before. Too bad he did.

 

“Let go to Kun’s.”

 

|

 

The ruckus exploding from within the confined walls of Kun’s abode was atypical, though of course, Sicheng forgot their little get together involved Ten today. The vivacity of the Disney songs blasting over the blue tooth speaker increased tenfold when Ten himself swung the door open, clutching his phone as though his life depended on it.

 

“How are you doing!” He cried enthusiastically, moving to hug both of them in turn. “Sorry I couldn’t come last week, had to take the time to catch up with Johnny, Mark, Yangyangie, Jaehyunnie, et cetera. Can’t let them have fun without me,”

 

Yuta seemed to find a certain amount of mirth in the others words, choosing to affectionately ruffle his hair before walking straight in, signaling to Sicheng he was dropping off his bags in Sicheng’s room. Sicheng followed his movements until the door shut behind him, only leaving him with the option of facing the Thai boy’s wrath. “You need to stop wallowing,” Ten mostly screamed in Mandarin. “If you won’t ask, I will and we all know how well me fixing things usually goes.” Sicheng took a few moments to form a Disney resilient bubble to indulge in his own maudlin silence. There was one reason you could never hide any gossip from Ten, he just knew too many languages. Too bad he used them for eves-dropping.

 

“I already know my answer though,” Sicheng finally replied, pricking his inner peace, for the first time in a while letting the pain well up, swirling round his heart to aching, constricting heights. Ten took to squeezing Sicheng’s shoulder in consolidation, though the sly glint in his eye never left.

 

“I think you’d be surprised by your answer,” Ten said sagely – the only sensible thing that would come out of his mouth tonight, Sicheng guaranteed.

 

“It doesn’t matter,” Sicheng replied, intent on steering the conversation away from them doing something unforgettably regretful. “When are we going to have a Chinese meetup? Lucas is real keen on getting his stupid ‘vision’ on a roll and Kun just wants to have Lucas stay still for thirty minutes.”

 

“Probably soon,” Ten agreed, not caring about Sicheng’s attempted diversion. “Lucas can’t just be let loose. And I need to improve my Mandarin anyway, so soon.”

 

Sicheng nodded for a few seconds before Ten dramatically pulled him into the apartment, their shared late realization they had been standing in the hallway the entire time slightly embarrassing for the pair. It was only once the door had closed did Sicheng realize how _loud_ the music truly was. And there was someone yelling.

 

“Don’t mind the screaming, I connected the speaker to my phone and its Kun’s so it’s programmed in Mandarin, so Doyoung’s busy trying to make it stop. Its great,” Ten cackled to himself before one final tap on the shoulder, and he was off to piss Doyoung off again. Not a minute later and Doyoung had a plug in his hand and the music had mysteriously vanished. Sicheng finally got to put his bag filled with sweaty clothes down, making sure to throw said clothes into the ‘to wash’ hamper before being confronted with the appearance of a smiling but juxtaposedly pissed Doyoung. Said man walked into the small laundry before closing the door, the annoyance holding him up all but draining at the prospect of Ten not being there to be said annoyance.

 

Doyoung stayed flopped against the door while Sicheng watched on silently, not sure if he should move to put more clothes away. He decided to wait, you know, out of courtesy. The silence slowly drained away as the stress drained from Doyoung, his formerly proud stance recovering to a semblance of its usual surety. “How are you going, Sicheng?” he asked after a moment, his shift from the door allowing Sicheng to finally continue his task.

 

“I’m doing alright, thank you.” There was silence again, but it still wasn’t particularly awkward. If Doyoung wanted to rant about Ten, he would.

 

“Is it alright if I hide the speaker in here?” Doyoung asked the signature startled deer look, not at all deterring from Sicheng’s surprise as he miraculously pulled out the speaker and cord from seemingly nowhere. “I’m just going to put it in the shelf with the fabric softener and stuff, there’s no chance Ten would look in there right?”

 

Sicheng smiled in agreement, watching as Doyoung shoved the device into the back of the drawer before shutting it again. “I’ll tell Kun where it is if he doesn’t find it first,’ Sicheng promised, getting a smile of gratitude from the other man. “Why was Ten trying to aggregate you today?”

 

The usual, honestly routine question when it came to Ten seemed to set Doyoung off, the other man yet again resuming his defeated position before bursting forward in a ball of intensity. “I don’t know why he can’t just leave me alone for once, seriously he keeps on insisting I’ll eventually break, as if,” he scoffed before continuing, “I hate him trying to meddle and play his games, I don’t understand why he’s so intent on me! He doesn’t mess with Kun! He doesn’t mess with Yuta! I don’t understand why he just has to focus on insisting, ‘aww you’ll break soon, don’t worry, I can’t wait, I’ll take your wedding photos,’” he mocked, talking so fast he was close to needing to gasp for breath. His brow was creasing into a permanent wrinkle, clearly trying to furrow through his own annoyance.

 

Sicheng stood stunned for a moment before finishing emptying his bag into the hamper, watching Doyoung worry himself into a puddle. Sicheng cleared his throat. “Well,” he paused for a moment to see if Doyoung had come out of his reverie. He had. “Maybe you’re just his favourite,” he offered before opening the door, not warning Doyoung to move and just powered through anyway, hoping Doyoung would be more annoyed with Ten rather than trying to go after Sicheng. When he exited the small laundry the living room seemed strangely calm, way too calm for their usual gatherings, and it turned out it was because Kun had arrived.

 

Kun and Ten were sitting in the middle of the living room floor, a waterproof shower curtain had been laid down over Kun’s rug and approximately too many bottles of alcohol had been placed in the middle of the shower curtain.

 

“Hey Sicheng,” Kun greeted, patting the floor near him to ask him to take a seat, smiling happily. Sicheng followed suit, sitting down on the floor somewhere along the line where the theoretical circle would be. “Tennie asked if we could play truth or dare, which I thought would be fun, but then he pulled out all these bottles of alcohol, so I don’t know anymore,” there was a tinge of worry coloring Kun’s words, illustrated by the slight furrow in his brow.

 

“It’s alright Kun Kun, it’s more like truth or dare plus never have I ever plus shots,” Ten offered up, as if it was any sort of consolation. “ill explain it when the other two come.” By now both Doyoung and Yuta were making their way out of the wood work and making their way to their places around the circle. For Doyoung that meant immediately scanning the floor and finding the exact opposite end of the circle from Ten. For Yuta it meant dropping himself half onto Sicheng’s lap and taking up residence there. If he felt Sicheng stiffen up slightly, or the sudden racing of his heart, he didn’t mention it.

 

Kun started passing shot glasses filled with the nasty alcohol around the circle, while they waited for the other two to turn up, Ten texting furiously, as if the vivacity of his texts would make them appear faster. Sicheng watched Yuta down his shot like it was nothing, then proceed to have another. He wanted to so badly shift his hair back slightly to see if he was drinking them sourly – putting back the shots before Ten’s definitely drunk induced game even started because of a bad mood or because of something else.

 

But for now it would have to wait; the characteristically loud knocking resonated through the apartment – even more evident in its loudness thanks to the stark lack of music. Moments later the giant that was Lucas materialized from behind the door, hugging Ten before moving aside to let both Jungwoo and someone Sicheng hadn’t met before in.

 

His height was on par with Jungwoo’s and he seemed to know Ten and surprisingly Doyoung, the look of pure shock on the other mans face lighting him up as a visual alert the same way nothing else could. “This is Jaehyun everyone, he’s in our English group and he’s pretty chill,” Lucas introduced before squishing next to Kun, the older boy affectionately patting Lucas’ hair as if he were a puppy. The other three found their places within the amassed circle and Kun handed out drinks, in which time Doyoung took the opportunity to berate Ten as much as he could in his beet red state.

 

“ _Chittaphon Leechaiyapornkul_ ,” he hissed, barely catching Ten’s smug attention. “ _How did you know?”_

 

Ten continued to smile at the other boy, watching him grow progressively redder. “You know you can’t hide gossip from me! Don’t worry, I’ll still take your wedding photos,”

 

“I’m not-,”

 

“Alright! Now that everyone’s here, I’m going to explain the rules of the game once and only once, if we need it repeated in other languages, I’m more than happy to do so – but only once so listen up,” Ten clapped his hands in excitement, while Sicheng took a moment to feel a ounce of pity over Doyoung’s suffering. “First of all, it’s like never have I ever, we go around the circle asking a question alright,” everyone nodded. “But you don’t lose if you lose all your fingers – instead all the people who put their fingers down on that question will then have to go through truth, dare or shot. If you don’t wanna do it you have to take as many shots as fingers you’ve still got up. Sounds like fun, right? Let’s start!” Lucas was pumped at the prospect, so everyone just let him start.

 

“Never have I ever failed a paper,” Lucas started, watching to see who would have to go into the next stage. Kun scoffed next to him.

 

“You know it’s something you haven’t done right?” He asked watching as he the other boy started leaning over his shoulder. Sicheng felt Yuta shift a little on his lap.

 

“OHH!!!” The start realization had Jungwoo and Ten rolling on the floor next to him, leaving the poor boy clearly devastated.

 

“Okay then put a finger down,” Kun helped gently, getting the giant puppy over his momentary lethargy. “Anyone else?”

 

Both Doyoung and Yuta put a finger down, much to the surprise of the remaining people. “oh my god wat did class captain, Mr. goody two shoes Kim Doyoung fail?” Ten gasped, voice dripping with mock concern.

 

But Doyoung wasn’t drunk yet, and thinking too fast to be caught in Ten’s trap. “If you really want to know, that’s going to be my truth question.” Everyone turned to Lucas to see if he would allow it, the single nod of agreement sending everyone’s eyes back to Doyoung. The discomfort was clear on hs face as he squirmed slightly, as though the words wouldn’t quite make their way out. “I tried taking one semester of … of conversational Japanese. It didn’t really work.” There were a few moments of stunned silence before Yuta broke out in a gasping laugh, rolling around on the floor until he could breathe again. Sicheng covered his mouth the not laugh as well when Doyoung slapped him in return. Oh well, he deserved it, just a little.

 

“Can we just make this rounds truths about what each of you failed, you know, just to break the ice?” Jungwoo asked once Yuta was comfortably back in his seat. Everyone nodded in agreement.

 

“I just want to know how many papers Lucas has failed, not even which ones,” Ten snickered. Sicheng watched carefully as the other boy started counting on his fingers.

 

“I’ve failed maybe three papers so far? And too many quizzes. So many quizzes,”

 

“That’s really not surprising,” Ten nodded sagely. He now turned to Yuta. “And you?”

 

“Coach recommended to everyone to take some sort of physical/ anatomical blah blah blah science or whatever. Failed to mention it would include human biology,”

 

Everyone around the circle nodded in agreement over the struggle. No way any of them were going to do human biology. A few more relatively tame rounds passed, the amount of alcohol consumed slowly accumulating as each of the bottles started to empty. At some point everyone had gotten past the point of understanding privacy. “Never have I ever talked behind a friend’s back,” Jaehyun smiled all to innocently, not paying heed to the hurt gasp coming from Tens direction. Sicheng could feel Ten’s mock disappointment rolling right off him. At some point throughout the night Sicheng had started stroking Yuta’s hair like he wanted to when they first started, curling the stray strands around the delicate shell of his pierced ear. It was relaxing, especially with all of the yelling.

 

“I ONLY TALK BEHIND YOUR BACK TEN, I DON’T WANT YOU KNOWING EVERYTHING ABOUT MY LIFE!” Doyoung screamed at the top of his lungs before curling into Kun’s free shoulder, Lucas currently taking up residence on the other one, his hand supposedly tallying his nevers now curled into Jungwoo’s. It was cute, Sicheng thought.

 

“it doesn’t matter now, so, truth or dare?” Kun asked for Jaehyun, since the other seemed in no position to want to interrupt the screaming match.

 

“Truth of course, I’m not an idiot,” Doyoung mumbled out, pulling himself off of Kun’s shoulder to glare at Ten again.

 

“Oh Jaehyunnie! I have the perfect question, please, please, _please_ ,” Ten whined, pleading at him.

 

Jaehyun eyed from Doyoung to Ten and back again, “sure I didn’t really know what to ask anyway,”

 

Ten told him something in English, and it must’ve been good because it brought Lucas into a laughing fit, repeating the phrase just to make sure he wasn’t going insane.

 

“Are you sure I should be asking this?” Jaehyun asked, reasonably skeptical.

 

“Yes please!” Lucas chanted, a dangerous glint in his eyes that made Doyoung look paler and paler by the second.

 

“If you ask this, I’ll let Doyoung choose my question,” Ten stated, looking at Doyoung, not Jaehyun. Doyoung nodded.

 

“Have you,” Jaehyun stuttered slightly, “Have you, you ever… kissed a boy?” The question hung in dead silence for a few seconds before the entire room _collapsed_ into hysterics. Sicheng curled into himself, the fit of giggles stopping him from thinking properly as he curled into his knees, right where Yuta’s head was lying. There was a tiny silent moment just between the two of them, as though everything had stopped, just watching, waiting. Sicheng felt the craziness die on his lips as the flood of hope welled up instead, Yuta hadn’t moved, he hadn’t shoved him away. But it didn’t mean he wouldn’t. Sicheng shot right up before anything could happen, turning back into the strident world, watching Doyoung’s suffering, trying not to accept his own. He could feel Yuta curling back away from him, likely now watching Doyoung as well. He had turned a horrendously unhealthy-looking shade of deep red, wallowing as he waited for everyone to be quiet.

 

When it finally did, he cleared his throat, making sure to avoid anything resembling eye contact. “Yes, I have,”

 

“See I knew it!” Ten screeched, arms flying around before Doyoung cleared his throat, holding out a hand for Ten to stop.

 

“My turn now.” There was no anger clouding Doyoung’s vision, but there sure as hell was a deep smoldering hunger thriving in his words. “Have you, or are you dated or are dating someone in this room?” The small room instantly filled with tension, as if someone had sucked out all the ambiance and pulled them into the vacuum of space. Even the sounds of people shifting on the plastic below them was awkward. Everyone who knew Ten knew he didn’t date – and if he did, he sure as hell didn’t want to talk about it.

 

“Yes.”

 

There was a few more moments of continued silence before Jaehyun thankfully cleared his throat, looking at a deflecting Doyoung – intent at looking at anything but him. “it’s your turn now to ask the question,”

 

“Right, yeah okay… he paused for a moment before looking back at Ten the fiery glint back just enough for Doyoung to know he hadn’t truly hurt his friend. “Never have I ever dated a boy,”

 

“Oh, come on…”

 

“Seriously,”

 

“Your going to need to come up with so many dares,”

 

 Doyoung tried to calm everyone down before continuing. “Okay everyone who’s dated a guy, hands up so I don’t miss anyone – oh my god, Kun, you too?” Doyoung gasped, starting out of shock at the man next to him.

 

“I’m bi, I thought we went over this,” Kun shrugged.

 

“Okay then, we’re going to just go ‘round the circle starting with Kun, ending with Sicheng. If you’re dating someone, who are you dating, or who was the last person you dated?” Doyoung asked, looking genuinely curious. Kun kept his eyes steady on Doyoung, but he threw out a question in Mandarin, which would honestly only stop about half of them from understanding.

 

“Can I?” Kun asked, still not diverting his look from Doyoung. Sicheng was momentarily confused before someone simply replied,

 

“Yes,”

 

Sicheng looked around the circle until he realized what had just happened, Lucas seemed to realize as well as both of them sucked in comically exaggerated breathes at the wait for the verbal confirmation.

 

“I’m currently dating Ten,” and the entire room was _gone_. Again. Sicheng launched himself across the circle at Kun and Lucas at Ten, both presumably asking similar questions.

 

“How on earth did you hide this from us?!” Sicheng demanded, shaking Kun slightly. “How did this even happen?”

 

“Calm down Sicheng, sit down then we’ll explain,” Kun tried to calm him, delicately, as though Sicheng was a child, removing his hands from his shoulders and placing him back down in his position, allowing Yuta to again replace his head in Sicheng’s lap. Lucas had since scurried back to his place, seated with a gaze so eager it could’ve convinced someone (usually Kun) to do almost anything.

 

There was again, an awkward moment as Kun cleared his throat to fake composure before everything would go insane again, all eyes on him, expectantly. “So, Ten doesn’t date.” Kun said. The statemeny was so clean and undeniable that everyone felt a wave of wisdom flowing through the apartment compelling them to nod and agree. Even the man in question. “And half of you thought I only dated women. Thanks, Doyoung,” Kun turned to the other man who just smiled awkwardly. “So it was kind of safe to say we kept our dating lives separate from you lot.”

 

“So we used to just talk about it together,” Ten interjected, deciding to take over. “Like this one-time Kun got this date with this really tall dude, like the largest damn bambi eyes you’ve ever see, it was super impressive, like wow -,”

 

“Besides the point, Ten.” Kun cut him off, the fiddling of his shot glass a dead giveaway he was bordering on something embarrassing.

 

“Right sorry, my point is he didn’t talk about it with any of you and none of you twats knew, but I found out whoo hoo! And from there we just kind of talk about that sort of stuff until we didn’t want to just talk anymore. It was kind of natural,” Ten finished up, offering a soft glance at the other man before looking more abashed than anyone had ever seen Ten look before in his life.

 

“I feel like this is a very proud development,” Sicheng added, nodding to give the couple his blessing. “you suit each other, in a weird way, you know?” Everyone seemed to agree because the nods in agreement soon turned into chants that were borderline too explicit – even for them. Finally, though Doyoung interrupted with his agenda of continued punishment.

 

“Okay, pause, pause, pause, I’ll make them kiss in a second, let’s just get Lucas and Jungwoo over then we can punish Ten. Lucas; truth or dare?”

 

“Dare you chickens!” He yelled, jumping up even though no one asked him to.

 

The proceeding smile that slapped itself onto Doyoung’s face was something no person should be confident in. “Call the last person you called, and tell them you got someone pregnant.”

 

Lucas let out a loud belt of laughter, quickly fishing around for his phone before Jungwoo handed it to him, from where he had been keeping it safe for his boyfriend. “This is going to be easy! Everyone knows I’m dating Jungwoo!” He opened up the phone icon and his face seemingly sunk into the floor, the ease he felt a moment ago all but vanishing.

 

“Oh my god who is it?” Doyoung asked, the glee too obvious to even fathom hiding.

 

“Ah, Mark,”

 

“Why is that a problem?” Jungwoo asked, looking up at his boyfriend, currently completely distraught with his life choices.

 

“I tried telling him once that I was dating you, but he just laughed and said there’s no way that would happen, so here we are,” he shrugged, not looking as though he tried in the least to explain it once.

 

“Well call.” Doyoung urged, the excitement building as the inevitable ringing cut off into sudden quiet.

 

“Hey bro?” Mark called with the lack of reply.

 

“Hey Mark, I gotta tell you something,”

 

“Okay cool, I’m just drinking orange juice from the bottle, if you hear me choking – you know what happened.” Kun retracted himself with a visual cringe.

 

“Ah, maybe don’t, ah, don’t start drinking just yet, cos’ I kinda, got someone pregnant?” The awkwardness that stuck to Lucas’ face stronger than glue kept such a good silence it was though Mark could also see it through the line. It didn’t last long though.

 

“Wong Yuk Hei! You got a girl _pregnant_!” Someone that was definitely not Mark screeched into the line.

 

Sicheng could hear Mark giggle out a “woah, really?” in the background.

 

“Johnny hyung, let me explain, please don’t kill me,” Lucas tried, holding both hands as if he was pleading with the man on the other side while everyone in the room rolled around in tryingly quiet laughter.

 

“Huang Xuxi! You ho!” Renjun called out from the background somewhere.

 

“Renjun! Language!” Kun called back, ready to scold the kid.

 

“But Kun-ma~~~,” He sing-songed, clearly trying to put on the charm.

 

By now most of them – mostly Ten – could no longer keep quiet, and had now joined in mocking Lucas into the speaker. “Johnny hyung~, pLeAsE Don’T kIlL mE~” he mocked before gasping back into full blown laughter.

 

Doyoung had composed himself again and decided mercy was to be given to the suffering man. “It’s alright, you can call it off now.”

 

“Oh thank goodness, sorry guys this was for truth or dare, and I’m dating Jungwoo, Mark,”

 

“Hi Mark, he is indeed dating me. Hi Renjun, hi Johnny hyung,”

 

“Wow, how on earth did that happen, why are you even dating that oversized sack of potatoes -,”

 

“Bye Mark.”

 

Jungwoo was giggling at his sulking boyfriend, now looking older by about three life times. Everyone else was having a blast.

 

“Well that turned out well,” Jaehyun commented, turning to Doyoung. “Nice call.”

 

Doyoung should not have turned that shade; it really wasn’t natural. So he called for the game to continue. But Sicheng saw that smirk on Jaehyun’s face. So, he leaned down to tell Yuta – to share the gossip – after all sharing is caring.

 

“Jaehyun just smirked at Doyoung,” he whispered, listening to the small giggle Yuta let out at the information.

 

“Well at least it’s not just Doyoung’s pining, that’s really insufferable.” Yuta replied, sounding oddly sober. Sicheng realized this was really the first time he and properly spoken the entire night. Maybe he was in a sullener mood. He’d have to ask later, they were best friends after all.

 

They continued on with the game; Jungwoo asked for a truth, after seeing the disaster that was his boyfriends dare and ended up describing That One Time ™ he ended up teaching a music theory class because he thought the professor wasn’t joking. It was a wild time, if Sicheng remembered correctly. Next was Ten, who apparently had not learnt anything from Lucas’ trials and trepidations.

 

“Dare,” he said, waiting for his task to come.

 

“Go make out with Kun-ge,” Lucas demanded, already pointing to the now cowering man. Doyoung didn’t even try and object.

 

“How long?”

 

“30 seconds. Jungwoo’s timing.”

 

Ten crawled across the floor, none too gracefully and planted himself in the still frightened Kun’s lap, leaning right in. Everyone whooped and cheered as Ten curled his fingers through Kun’s hair and Kun eventually loosened up, wrapping his arms around Ten’s waist. When Jungwoo called the timer the couple finally separated themselves, Ten deciding he’d much rather sit next to his boyfriend though, actively pushing Doyoung out of the way so that Kun could bury his face away in Ten’s neck, trying to avoid the screams of his heckling kids.

 

Jaehyun was the next victim, so all attention turned back to him, leaning back as if he was the calmest cucumber in the world. People threw out suggestions to Doyoung for a while but he seemed too awkward to even initiate the conversation.

 

“Truth or dare,” Sicheng asked for him, the crease between Doyoung’s eyes loosening slightly.

 

“Dare.”

 

Sicheng turned to Doyoung to see if he wanted to implement anything in particular. He shrugged. Now, Sicheng was planning something nice, innocent, funny – he promises, but he couldn’t say the same for the others in the room. Namely the one with his head resting in Sicheng’s lap.

 

“Okay then, go kiss Doyoung. Same rules as the couple,” Yuta said, too nonchalantly for Doyoung’s liking; the bubbling anger popping at Yuta in short spurts of disbelieving exclamations speaking for his thoughts on his now current predicament. Jaehyun did what he was told despite Doyoung’s spluttering, sitting right in front of the malfunctioning man.

 

“You alright with this?”

 

Doyoung looked around the room, only getting a “timers set,” from Jungwoo.

 

“You traitors,” he whispered under his breath, but he nodded anyways, clenching his fist, bracing for a deadly decent.

 

Sicheng thinks, what happened next, was the opposite of what Doyoung was bracing himself for. Jaehyun leaned in calmly, that soft smirk telling Doyoung there was nothing new, nothing frightening before pressing his lips chastely against Doyoung’s, leaning into it, apply pressure, they stayed awkwardly like that for a few moments, Doyoung’s eyes still flying around frantically before he relaxed, tension spilling from his hands, shoulders, face, eyes finally fluttering closed as he pushed into it as well, allowing Jaehyun to pull him in. After a given point no one had the gall to continue just watching, so they left them be. Sicheng chose to focus on the phone Jungwoo was holding out, the number already suspiciously having gone to zero.

 

When they did finally pull apart, panting for breath, it was the most awkward fucking thing for everyone but them, still stuck in their own perfect atmosphere, just themselves without a room of stupid college kids waiting to continue playing a dumb hybrid game with only 8 people. “Well its good that we got that tension sorted,” Yuta said, “Doyoung’s free every Thursday if you want to take him out, just so you know.” That snapped them back out, Yuta receiving a familiar nasty glare. Sicheng couldn’t help but roll his eyes at the situation. If Ten wasn’t getting on Doyoung’s nerves, Yuta sure would. Jaehyun made his way back to his seat even though he kept flicking his eyes back to the mostly vacant space next to Doyoung – sans Yuta’s legs. “So much for him being straight, huh,” Yuta huffed out, turning away from the man in question’s vengeful gaze and further into Sicheng’s thigh.

 

“I heard that, Nakamoto. Payback time.”

 

“You idiot, I haven’t dated any guys, you can’t get me to do shit,” he retorted, shuffling until he was again comfortable.

 

“Sicheng, same rules as the rest of us. Thirty seconds. Whenever you’re ready.”

 

Sicheng took a few moments to process what Doyoung meant, but when he did, the pout that tightened his face was not a cute one. “What do you mean? I didn’t get to choose, what if I wanted to do a truth?”

 

“Come on what do you have to lose, I just want to get that idiot back, and it seems everyone’s already dating, so, please,” Doyoung gestured forward with both hands, waving them to act already. Sicheng hadn’t pegged Doyoung as a mean drunk, and it seemed he had been right. Instead he was just an oblivious drunk. Sicheng took a glance down at Yuta, the last person he wanted to be caught in this kind of thing with. Who he’d least want to only be able to kiss drunk. On some stupid fucking dare. And then have to apologize and never be able to do it again. Yuta squirmed under Sicheng’s gaze.

 

“Come on, it’s what he wants. Kissing me can’t be that bad right?”

 

“Ah, I don’t think you should do this -,” Ten tried, looking as though he were prepared to intervene if needed.

 

“Don’t worry, I won’t bite.” Yuta rasped. It was a whirl of suddenness that had Yuta’s hands pulling Sicheng by his neck down, angling himself up to connect their lips together. The gasp of surprise that opened Sicheng’s mouth allowed Yuta just enough to push in, licking over Sicheng’s teeth, moaning out a sound that was equivalent to the heavy scent of petrichor. Sicheng let him, leaning in further, hand curling around Yuta’s bicep, squeezing tight. Then the buzzer went off.

 

 And it wasn’t just an impulse thing anymore. Sicheng hadn’t realized he had his eyes closed, but the suddenness of the splintered light invading its way back into his view made him realise the sequence of events that had just unfolded. Starting back, he pulled himself back up, faced with the sounds of whooping friends, a smug Doyoung, but most of all the pain filled gazes of Ten and Kun. And he felt it. He _felt_ it, he felt the pain that was reflected in their eyes, the usual tide of adrenalin that shot through him at even the slightest smile from the boy currently lying on his lap, now was filled more with edging ocean waters that brimming fresh seas. This was a new kind of sharp, a new kind of low.

 

“Okay everyone,” Kun cleared his throat, “it’s getting late, so its time to start packing up. Make sure you all get home safely, and well meet up next week, same time. We’ll order a pizza and watch a movie or something. It was nice meeting you Jaehyun, feel free to come again next week, it was good having you join in on the fun. Jungwoo, please get him home in one piece. If you have any problem carrying him, just give me a call and I’ll come over and help out. Okay, goodbye everyone! Get home safely, if you think your to drunk, share an Uber, take the bus. No drink driving!” He ushered everyone out the door, waving to each of them as they disappeared into the elevator, while the remaining three stayed in their places on the floor. Ten swirled his shot glass around in front of him.

 

“I think you should go home, Yuta,” Ten suggested, keeping his eyes on the shot glass. Sicheng didn’t say anything.

 

Everything was quiet again, and proper quiet this time. Kun stayed leaning against the door. Ten kept his eyes on the shot glass, and Sicheng was looking anywhere but down. Yuta cleared his throat. “If… if that’s what you think’s best. I’ll go get my stuff.”

 

Sicheng felt the weight lift off his legs, the change in temperature somewhat startling. He hadn’t realized how cold the apartment had gotten. “Its alright.” He said. “you can stay,” Ten eyed him questioningly, but let it slide, choosing to focus his attention on the mess in the middle of the room. Kun was one hell of an influence. Sicheng stretched his legs out before standing up, following Yuta into his room.

 

Sicheng and Kun had lived together for a while now, for the entire time Sicheng had been attending the university. Not once in that time had he changed any of his room décor, even now it stayed the same, even the semi-permanent mattress next to his that had been laid out for Yuta hadn’t moved since they first moved in together. Even with all the familiarity, for the both of them, something in the air had changed, a heavy feeling of new, of strangeness hung in between the piles of work books around the room for Sicheng, and apparently just above his bed for Yuta. Sicheng closed the door. The sound of the door clicking shut set Yuta’s eyes on his looking a puzzle of sadness, each possible shade fitted together to form a calligraphy of pain and angst. Sicheng imagined he looked the same.

 

“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have done that.”

 

Sicheng shrugged, trying to appear nonchalant. But truthfully trying to rid himself of the pressing of his own quilt of ache.

 

“I should’ve asked, I shouldn’t have forced you to kiss me, it was rude.”

 

Sicheng kept his eyes down.

 

“I’m sorry to make you do something like that, especially if the idea appalls you so much. I won’t do it again.”

 

He didn’t have the energy to fight him even when the sinking weight of his heart fell deeper into the thick blood dark ocean of despair. “It’s alright.”

 

“No, it’s not, I know you don’t like skin ship with friends, let alone _that_ , I shouldn’t have made you do it.” Yuta agonized, tensing on the action as if the mere though repelled him.

 

“Its- I understand, I understand,” Sicheng tried, he just didn’t want to see that look of disgust on Yuta’s face, he thought never in his dreams, his nightmares, would he cause the other man such distress. And for all things, a kiss. “If you don’t think it’s right, because you feel like it was forced, but I – it didn’t hurt me, maybe next time you … you kiss a girl, just ask her first.”

 

No one moved, Sicheng’s own muscles stiff in place. In his peripheral vision Yuta moved slightly, more shuffling than walking, stiff jerks over smooth grace. The rigid atmosphere was getting to him too. He stood a few feet from Sicheng, arms twitching by his sides, not knowing what to do with them.

 

“Sicheng.” Yuta said. “Are we okay?”

 

Sicheng forced himself to look up, the jerky unnatural action laying bare his unwillingness. Yuta had a tiny smile on, a shadow of his usual joy – but it wasn’t fake, just wounded. Sicheng opened his mouth slightly, jerking it open slight bit by bit, only to scowl when he couldn’t push the words out, unable to answer the question. Yuta watched him carefully, his own intentness provoking him to lead Sicheng easily over to his own bed, sitting him down, giving him a pillow to hold before moving to turn off the light, closing the door until it was just ajar, light skimming through the gap.

 

He sat next to Sicheng, phone light offering the only light for them to see and turned his gaze to him. “If,” deep breath, “if we’re not, that’s okay. I just want you to be honest. So we can go back to being okay.”

 

Sicheng turned to look back at him, wanting to scream, to protest that he wasn’t the one that was making this uncomfortable, it was himself. Yuta was not the one who fell in love with his best friend.

 

But then he really looked at him. Looked at the boy he had fallen in love with, looked at him under the dim glow permeating the darkness of the room. Sicheng had always loved that sparkle in Yuta’s eye. That organic way his deathly black eyes reflected the light glowing from phone like it was raw fire, a tinge of fight tinting the golden glow to one of reddened embers. Sicheng loved it. It wasn’t the twinkle of starlight, more like the blazing fires of heaven, all encapsulated into one look. A look that was directed at Sicheng. So he tried to smile, trying so hard to diminish the depths of the others worry, trying to hold it in, hold it together. And Yuta was looking at him. Sicheng didn’t know if it was just his mind, but that fire, that black coal fire, lit something in Sicheng’s heart, setting it into a seething fire and not letting go, and all Sicheng wanted to do right now was quench it; lean in just that much closer, as Yuta had done before and press a deserving kiss to his nose, mouth, cheeks, wherever.

 

 The fancy glow of the last few bits of clawing light from the doorway, surrounding Yuta like a halo were supposed to mean nothing. Uncut fringes making him have to lean back slightly to see when he smiled wasn’t supposed to be heart achingly cute. His soothing words for when Sicheng cried weren’t supposed to be supplemented with calming kisses. And all Sicheng could do now, was let it out. The flood of pain and love that had welled up, up past his heart, into his throat, stopping him from talking, rushing up against his chest, pounding asking to be freed, finally got its wish. Suddenly all that he had been holding onto burst out in a stream of tears, curling him over, allowing the water to weep.

 

Smiling hadn’t worked.

 

“Sicheng – Sicheng, I’m so sorry, what did I do, what-,” Yuta tried, still uncertain as to whether he was again in a position to comfort the other.

 

“I, I- I’m, mm, I’m, ss-, ss-,” he stumbled, attempting to push the words past the rushing waters.

 

“I’m sorry I can’t understand you, I’ll get Kun,” Yuta said, standing up to find the other. Sicheng let the sorry continue to well up in nasty pools of tears. Moments later, a pair of footsteps came his way, one stopping momentarily to close the door before two people sat down next to him, dipping the mattress on either side of him.

 

“Sichengie,” Kun soothed, “what happened?”

 

There was something naturally calming about being able to talk in your native language, and Sicheng was grateful for not having to think and translate. Yet it still didn’t make it any easier to speak.

 

“Did he say something bad, Sicheng?” Ten asked from the other side, wrapping his arm around Sicheng’s curled shoulders.

 

“No, no,” Sicheng croaked, continuing to keep his head down. The sane pair waited a few minutes until Sicheng was coherent, but sniffling, mind clear enough to take proper breathes. “No, he, he didn’t apologized, _apologized_ , to me, said he didn’t want to do anything to make me uncomfortable, which is brilliant, but… but, it just _hurts,_ ”

 

And the wave of pain that had dulled came back in full force, curling him into Kun’s side, the couple’s arms wrapped around him in solidarity, hands running through his hair in an attempt for calm. “Oh Sicheng,” Kun muttered, “you love him.”

 

Sicheng nodded into Kun’s shirt. “But I don’t want to let him go.”

 

“You don’t need to,” Ten supplemented, stroking down Sicheng’s back. “Tell him.”

 

“But it’s not going to go away…” he trailed off.

 

“It doesn’t need to Sichengie, it doesn’t need to.” Kun hugged him closer before continuing. “When Ten told you not to fall in love with boys who won’t love you back, that was my advice to him. And this is not what either of us meant. Yuta will always love you, completely unconditionally. It might be platonic, or it might be romantic, but he will always love you, and as long as you love him as much as we both know he does you, I’m sure he wouldn’t be hurt by anything.”

 

“Tell him, Sicheng.”

 

They continued to comfort him until Sicheng stopped crying, again coherent. He squeezed Kun into a hug and nodded into his shoulder, earning a encouraging pat from Ten.

 

“Can we send him in?” Another nod. Both of them squeezed him one last time before getting up. They had a matching set of pajamas and slippers on. Sicheng didn’t know how no one ever noticed the two of them were together. They closed the door behind them, and Sicheng took the opportunity of privacy to wipe the remaining tears off his face and take several deep breaths, only stopping when the door creaked open again. Sliver by sliver more of Yuta became visible, the concern clearly eating him up. He too closed the door behind him, and sat awkwardly down next to Sicheng.

 

“I’m sorry Sicheng, I really am, I didn’t, I didn’t realize how uncomfortable it would make you, really,” he tried, usual gesticulative way of speaking stressed more so than his voice.

 

“It’s,” Sicheng started, trying to carefully piece his words together. “Its really alright, it didn’t make me uncomfortable. But,”

 

Yuta leaned in, eager to get his penance.

 

“But I want to tell you something. But I want to know you won’t hate me for it, no matter what it is.”

 

“Of course, I don’t think I’d ever willingly hate you.”

 

Sicheng breathed in. “I love you.”

 

“I love you too, Sicheng.”

 

“But I don’t think you mean what I do,” Sicheng choked out, prepared to feel the painful tears start again. There was only warmth in Yuta’s words though, only care and _love_.

 

“No, I know what you mean. And I’ve always meant it the same way. You just never asked.” He smiled, brighter than all the stars, brighter than fires burning the sky alight. And Sicheng felt his oceans burn away, that smile was infectious – pulling an equally bright one out of Sicheng, happiness coating him yellow, love coating Yuta red.

 

Yuta held out his hand, Sicheng, like many times before, gladly taking it. “So if I did this,” Yuta whispered, leaning in close a pressing a soft kiss to Sicheng’s cheek, for which he gladly accepted, “there would be no objection?”

 

“Not for all the light in the world.”

 

 

 

 

|

 

 

 

 

“Come on Ten, we shouldn’t be eves dropping, its rude,” Kun sighed, rubbing between his eyes, smoothing out imaginary wrinkles.

 

“You haven’t stopped yet either,” Ten replied, looking back up at Kun.

 

Kun sighed again. It really was too late for him, he would’ve been asleep nearly an hour ago, if Yuta hadn’t come into their bedroom. “That’s because I don’t want to go to sleep without you,”

 

“Aww, that’s so cute,” Ten squealed, bopping Kun on the nose. Kun sluggishly closed his eyes in return.

 

“Come on I’m going to sleep. It’s too late for this,”

 

“Okay, I’ll just ask them what happened tomorrow anyway. And I couldn’t hear anything, those doors are actually really good,”

 

“Good to know.”

 

“Love you Kun,” Ten said, turning off the light, before lying down, allowing the sleepy Kun to curl right into him.

 

“Love you too.”

**Author's Note:**

> ugh, im so sorry this one turned out real bad, felt like i lost all my technique. Eitherway - despite the trashy writing - hope you enjoyed at least a little bit,b ecause it was actually pretty enjoying to write (even if the final product was eh eh lol) comments and kudos are always welcome and thank you for reading!
> 
> i hope you have a good day/ night/ evening morning! <3<3<3


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